Abstract
BackgroundBrief interventions can reduce alcohol consumption in young people through screening and delivery of personally relevant feedback. Recently, Web and mobile platforms have been harnessed to increase the reach of brief interventions. Existing literature on mobile-based alcohol brief interventions indicates mixed use of theory in developing interventions. There is no research available to guide the development of SMS text messaging (short message service, SMS) interventions delivered during risky drinking events.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to develop and pilot an alcohol-related risk-reduction brief intervention delivered by SMS to Australian young adults during drinking events. This paper describes the development of intervention message content, with specific focus on the context of delivery during drinking events.MethodsA sample of 42 young adults attended 4 workshops; these comprised focus-group style discussion on drinking habits and motivations, discussion of intervention design, analysis of existing alcohol media campaigns, and participant development of message content. Data were analyzed thematically.ResultsParticipants described a focus on having fun and blocking out any incongruent negative influences during drinking episodes. For content to be acceptable, nonjudgmental and non-authoritative language was deemed essential. A preference for short, actionable messages was observed, including suggestions for reminders around drinking water, organizing transport home, checking on friends, and plans the next day. Participants were excited about the potential for messages to be tailored to individuals, as previous alcohol-related campaigns were deemed too generic and often irrelevant. Normative-based messages were also perceived as largely irrelevant as participants felt that they understood the drinking-related norms of their immediate peers already.ConclusionsFindings from this study offer insights into young adults’ drinking events and practical advice for designing alcohol-related brief interventions. During our formative development process, we demonstrated a neat correspondence between young people’s preferences for alcohol harm reduction interventions and the theoretical principles of brief interventions, including acceptable topics and message style.
Highlights
Alcohol is a major contributing cause of death and hospitalisation for young Australians (15–24yr olds)
Data were provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
Young people aged between 15 and 24 years account for about 52% of all alcohol-related serious road injuries (Chikritzhs et al, 2000) and 32% of all alcohol-attributable hospital admissions for injuries caused by violence (Matthews et al, 2002)
Summary
Over the last 10 years (1993–2002), an estimated 2,643 young people (aged between 15 and 24yrs) died from alcohol-attributable injury and disease caused by risky/high risk drinking in Australia. Over 100,000 young people were hospitalised for alcohol-attributable injury and disease over a 9–year period (1993/94–2001/02). The purpose of this Bulletin is to document trends in alcoholattributable harms due to risky and high risk drinking for young people across Australia. The most common causes of alcohol-attributable death for young people are road injury, suicide and violence. Male alcohol-attributable death rates are about 4 times greater than for females. Young people who live in non-metropolitan areas are at greater risk of alcohol-attributable death than city youth
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
